Ever After
by laurzz
Summary: DannyLindsayLucy. post season 9 finale. "Moving away from the city had been hard, but in reflection she knew that it was the best decision she and Danny had ever made together. Lucy was happier, she was happier and even though he hated to admit it, so was Danny."


**Alright, bear with me. *deep breath* so, I'm sure lots of you have heard now, but if you haven't, CBS did what I'd been thinking they might and cancelled CSI:NY. I'm absolutely heartbroken, but I've spent the last 11 weeks preparing myself for this. Doesn't make it any easier though. **

**Now I've done this a few times with author notes at the end of seasons and things, but let me just say it now. it's the real deal so here we go. **

**I don't even know what to say to each and every one of you other than the biggest thank you. you have made this experience so much fun. writing is such an amazing outlet - but it really becomes something magical when you can share it with others - friends as some have you have become to me. I am so glad that my silly little ideas and scenarios have brought smiles to your faces every week. I am so lucky to have had the chance to use the episodes and create something every week with people actively coming to my page to see if I had posted something. And for the odd few times I didn't, the messages asking me if I was... they were not unappreciated. Every word you all have ever sent me have been nothing but loved and appreciated. i may have sucked with replying from time to time - especially recently, but let it be known that everytime I refresh my email and there is something waiting for me from one of you, I literally squee to myself, sometimes to death after a lengthy review. I am after all, a fangirl at heart. you guys have made this even more magical than Danny, Lindsay and Lucy have made it for me and I can't thank YOU guys enough. **

**But don't be worrying for one second here now, ok? When I found out what CBS had gone and done I was writing a chapter for Lonesome and I am working on other things too. I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE. I HOPE YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE EITHER. ... and I just realised that's a almost quote from the Triangle. Oh my heart, stop breaking in my chest ok? **

**The writers might not be giving us a happy ending, but I sure as hell intend to. this story was written I'd say about two months ago now when I really tried to deal with the idea of csiny not coming back. this is how I cleansed myself and prepared for what might happen. If it helps just one of you fill in some blanks and makes you feel better than that's my intention. **

**remember, I'm not going anywhere. you guys don't be going anywhere either. **

* * *

_Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back and realise they were the big things._

* * *

Lindsay exhaled heavily as she collapsed on the couch behind her. The past five years she had done a successful job of surviving the madness that was planning her little girl's birthday party. The past five years however consisted of a party centred towards Lucy, but with the guest list including primarily the team at the crime lab, and a few of her friends from pre-school, but with Lucy in Kindergarten now, it meant that the guest list had got a lot longer with a lot more needs, wants and demands. Party games to Danny's iPod being controlled by Adam, ensuring Lucy won every time wouldn't cut it anymore. The plus was however, Lindsay had a half decent excuse to decorate their house in the way she had always wanted to. The previous years, she had felt like she couldn't go too over the top – this year however, she had gone wild. It had taken two whole hours to turn their newly decorated living room into a Princess palace; ready for the Princess and Prince theme that Lucy had requested for her birthday. She knew she'd set the bar high this year and she was wondering even now, when the party hadn't even started yet, how she was going to top it next year for her daughter's seventh birthday.

She smiled as the breeze filtered in from the sliding glass door. Moving away from the city had been hard, but in reflection she knew that it was the best decision she and Danny had ever made together. Lucy was happier, she was happier and even though he hated to admit it, so was Danny. It was the perfect home for them. Their belongings that had seemed like clutter in their apartment fit perfectly into their new home and it looked flawless if she did say so herself. All the rooms were perfectly decorated now and their third bedroom was ready and waiting for their new member of their family to finally arrive; with just three more months to go, she was beginning to feel the excitement and terror brewing at the same time. Although their apartments in the city had been okay for their new family when they had Lucy, bringing another baby home to a cramped two bed apartment hadn't even been an option for her. She was just lucky that Danny was on the same page.

She let out a contented sigh as she heaved herself up off the couch and went back to the kitchen. The cupcakes she had baked for Lucy's friends were just about ready and she opened the oven just as the garage door sounded and the engine of their car slowly edged it's way into the garage, alerting her of Danny and Lucy's arrival home.

She placed the hot cupcakes on the counter, so that she could add frosting with Lucy once they had cooled.

"Hi Mommy!" Danny called out as the bell chimed on their garage handle as he crossed the threshold into their home. "We're back."

"Hi Daddy!" she replied, coming into the living room. She entered just as Lucy appeared in front of Danny. "Well don't you look amazing?" she grinned at her daughter.

"Daddy said you owe him," Lucy grinned as she flicked her long hair. "Do you like it, Mommy?"

They had decided as a part of Lucy's princess birthday party that she could go to the salon they'd seen numerous times just down the road from their home. They'd arranged a little package with one of the young, trainee hairdressers within the salon that she could practise a hairstyle on Lucy and Lucy had a grand old time on her birthday. The only downside to such bargain was Danny was stuck – he either was left decorating the house, or he was roped into taking his daughter to get her hair done. Either way, he lost a little bit of his manhood. Eventually, he'd decided after much begging on Lucy's part to accompany Lucy to the salon.

"You look beautiful!" Lindsay smiled. "You decided on princess curls then?"

"I didn't want a braid," she explained. "You do nice braids and you said I could do my hair however I wanted."

"So tell her the reason why you got it curly, Luce," Danny said, sitting down on the couch and exhaling softly.

"Well, I asked Daddy to open his wallet so I could see that picture of you when you and Daddy weren't my Mommy and Daddy."

Lindsay smiled, knowing where Lucy was taking her story.

"And I wanted to look pretty like you did in that picture, you know the one…"

"I do," Lindsay smiled. "The picture of me and Daddy in Montana in a wheatfield?"

Lucy nodded. "So I wanted my hair curly, just like you Mommy."

Lindsay felt her stomach tighten at the sentiment of Lucy wanting to be just like her. Even after all these years it still felt strange to have someone so little watching everything she did, copying her to a tee. To Lindsay, it was the biggest compliment; Lucy wanted to be just like her… and on top of that, it reassured that she was at least doing something right.

Danny cleared his throat, realising that Lindsay needed a minute; just as he had in the salon. "Hey Luce, how about you go and get changed for now… we have some jobs we need to do and Mommy and I don't want you to get your dress to get dirty before your friends get here."

"Okay," she nodded as she headed for the stairs. "Wait, Mom?"

"Y-y-yeah?" Lindsay swallowed heavily as the name Lucy had just offered registered. _Mom._ Not Mommy.

"Uncle Mac and everyone are still comin' right?"

"They told me they wouldn't miss it for the world, Kiddo." Lindsay smiled as she settled next to Danny on the couch. Without another word, Lucy disappeared upstairs and Lindsay laid her head on Danny's shoulder. "Did you hear that?" she said softly.

"Hear what?" Danny asked, his eyes trained on their view outside of the sliding glass door into their back-yard.

"She called me Mom."

"I know," Danny sighed heavily. "She called me Dad earlier. A little bit of me died inside I think. Seriously, I felt my heart breaking."

"Well she is six now," Lindsay frowned sadly. "Maybe it's time she started calling us Mom and Dad?"

"I figured we'd be able to milk it for another few years though." Danny shrugged deflatedly. "Maybe I'm holdin' onto her bein' young for too long."

"Maybe," Lindsay exhaled heavily as she took Danny's hand and laced her fingers through his. She then placed their intertwined hands on her stomach.

"How's he doin' today?" Danny inquired as he pressed a kiss to Lindsay's temple.

"Good," Lindsay nodded. "He's good."

"Not tryin' to take over his big sister's big day?"

"He wouldn't do that," Lindsay smirked. "He knows what's good for him."

"It's good that he's a quick learner; he should fit in just per-"

"Mommy! Daddy! Can one of you guys come help me? I'm stuck!"

Danny turned to look at Lindsay with a glint in his eyes. Both stood silently and headed upstairs; filled with the same thoughts. _Mommy and Daddy; she might try and act grown up, and she might fool them – but sometimes, just sometimes she'd remind them that she was still their little girl._

* * *

"So just like this?" Lucy asked, her curls tied in a loose ponytail to keep them from getting caught in the frosting.

"Perfect," Lindsay smiled as she swiped a curl from her daughter's cheek. "These are going to look amazing, Lu,"

"Good!" She squeaked. "How many more minutes till everyone gets here?"

"Sixty," Lindsay smiled." You've got one more hour."

Lucy sighed heavily. "D'ya think they'll get here early?"

"Uncle Mac and everybody might." Lindsay nodded. "Remember though, Uncle Hawkes won't be coming today sweetie."

"Oh yeah," Lucy frowned. "He moved."

"Just like we did," Lindsay reminded her daughter, "He just moved a little further away."

"Yeah, California." She frowned. "Did his friend make him move?"

"No sweetie," Lindsay shook her head as she hooked her index finger underneath Lucy's chin so that her daughter was looking at her. "Camille needed to move too but Hawkes got a really, really good job somewhere else. Even though we miss him, it's good because he's happy… and we want him to be happy."

"I know," Lucy frowned. "Just so long as Adam doesn't go anywhere; I like Adam. He's funny."

"He's a goofball." Lindsay chuckled.

"And Uncle Flack, I love him. He's my favourite I think."

"He's your favourite?" Lindsay gasped. "Lucy, whatever you do, don't tell Daddy that. You know how he gets."

"Mommy!" Lucy rolled her eyes and squirted the icing on the counter top in exasperation. "Don't be silly; Daddy is my forever favourite. I love Daddy the mostest ever. And you. You and Daddy are my favourites. Uncle Flack is like my second favourite or something."

"What about Uncle Mac?"

"I love Uncle Mac like I love Flack." Lucy paused. "I wouldn't love anyone like I love you and Daddy, Mommy."

Lindsay turned to compose herself and busy herself with the bowl of frosting that they had whipped. She took the bag from Lucy and began filling the piping bag with some more frosting.

"Mommy? Did you hear me?"

"Yeah," Lindsay sniffled, trying to hide her emotion from her daughter, "I heard you baby. I… I love you too; more than you'll ever know."

Lucy puckered her lips together and Lindsay placed a soft, loving kiss to her daughter's rosy lips. Lucy was six now; but with some of the stuff she came out with, Lindsay couldn't help but think that her little six year old was wiser than her years.

After the cupcakes were frosted perfectly, Lucy was in her Cinderella dress and her perfect curls were touched up, the Messers were waiting eagerly for their guests. Lindsay had stepped outside a few times to place some phone calls for the surprise she had arranged and Danny's addition to that surprise was placed in the trunk of their car, ready for him to disappear for a few minutes to complete Lucy's perfect day.

Throughout her parents' plotting, Lucy had been climbing the walls, asking constantly how many more minutes and getting annoyed at how time was crawling. She kept sighing heavily, and much to Danny's amusement, he found that they were quite similar, he could remember years and years ago that he'd had a similar birthday party when he was about seven and he'd felt like his death would come before his friends… he figured that the feelings he could remember feeling back then was the exact same his daughter was currently feeling.

Daughter. He exhaled heavily as he observed her mindlessly staring at the television but not really taking any of it in. He never, ever envisioned himself having children – he'd never even imagined falling in love. He'd said so himself. He could remember leaning over a dead body in the middle of a church, laughing in Mac's face at the idea of falling in love. He'd snapped at Mac telling him that he wasn't funny. Then, as it was, Lindsay turned up in his life and things had changed almost instantly. He wouldn't say he fell in love with her straight away – but it was a quick process. He could feel a shift in himself. He was a little more conscious of his actions and dreaded Lindsay finding out about his conquests. He found that he wasn't dating as much and searching for reasons to spend time with Lindsay both inside and out of work. Then while all of that was happening, he'd vowed to Hawkes that he was never having children because they were too expensive. Little did he know that just a few years down the line he'd be shelling out God only knew how much for his little girl's sixth birthday party.

A knock sounded at their front door before their door bell chimed. Lucy nearly left her dress behind her as she jumped up from the floor and raced for the door. She ripped it open and jumped in excitement at the sight of Mac and Christine, nearly hidden behind a mountain of gifts. Hot on her heels, Danny appeared at the front door behind his daughter as he watched her tackle Mac's legs in excitement as he stumbled with the gifts.

"Happy birthday, Lucy!" Christine smiled, her face poking out from behind a castle shaped present, the gold wedding band on her ring finger glistening in the sunlight behind them.

"Thank you!" Lucy squealed. "You're my first party guests!" she informed them quickly. "You're early. I've been waiting for _hours!"_

"It sounds like you had a lot of things you've been waiting to say," Mac chuckled. "Happy birthday, my princess Lucy."

"Thanks Uncle Mac!" She smiled shyly, her soft spot for her godfather turned adoptive Uncle shining through. "I guess you might wanna come in?"

"I don't think they'll fit," Danny mused, finally making his presence known. "Apparently you guys wanted to beat the record you set last year for presents…"

"We couldn't help it," Christine shared a glance with Mac before smiling apologetically at Danny.

"You're as bad as she is," Danny jabbed his thumb over his shoulder in his wife's direction. "Out of control she is. And now she's apparently insisting we treat the other kid the same. No-one told me that I had to treat both kids the same. What's that all about? What happened to spoiling the favourite kid?" He mused as he accepted the gifts that Christine was handing him. "Come on in, let's get you a stiff drink before twenty five kindergarteners take over."

"Twenty-five kindergarteners?" Mac exclaimed. "How do you feel about this?"

"I'd be drunk if Lindsay let me. She won't... I asked." He smirked before shrugging. "What ya gonna do, it comes with being a Dad."

Mac wordlessly placed a firm hand on Danny's shoulders and squeezed him affectionately, his own wedding band standing proudly on his ring finger, connecting him to Christine. "I'm proud of you."

"I know." Danny smiled as he closed the front door.

* * *

Adapting the tip Lucy's teacher had offered when she'd given out the party invitations, Lindsay shook the tambourine to gain the attention of Lucy and her twenty five classmates. They all looked towards Lindsay instantly with bright smiles on their faces with their fingers wiggling in the air. Lindsay marvelled for a moment at the power of the tambourine before she cleared her throat. She lowered her voice and smiled brightly; "Okay then now that I think everyone is here, Lucy's Daddy and I have a special surprise for everyone… a surprise that even Lucy doesn't know about… go on and make a circle everyone."

Miraculously the twenty-five kindergarteners began moving themselves into a sort of circle in the space of the living room. Feeling empowered, Lindsay licked her lips and smirked proudly. "Well then, I think I may just have to go and tell your teacher on Monday how amazing you all just did that. She won't believe me!" Lindsay smiled. "Okay, so I'm looking and I see lots and lots of princess and princes in our circle," she paused. "But what are we missing?" Lindsay asked.

"A castle!" one of Lucy's friends shouted.

"Hmm, we could do with a real castle, but we can just pretend Lucy's house is the castle. Any other ideas?"

"A fairy godmother!"

"We gots my godfather – Uncle Mac, wave!" Lucy cried. Mac waved in response with a smile on his face. "He can be our fairy god-father, right Mommy?"

"Why not?" Lindsay smirked towards Mac. "No see I'm thinking more-"

Just then the door bell chimed, and Mac winked at Lindsay as he went to answer the door. As he opened the door, Lucy and her friends gasped. There stood in the doorway was Cinderella, dressed ready for the ball.

Lindsay had been inspired when she had been reviewing case-files for court cases, links to new crimes and while going through some filing cabinets within the lab, she'd come across a case file that had haunted her for many nights. James Vackner had strangled Sarah Butler with his bare hands for no reason. She hadn't given him anything – he hadn't taken anything from her; all he'd done was squeeze the life from the Montana girl. But taking away the positive from that – Sarah had spent the night singing for a birthday party as a mermaid, and with Lucy begging for a princess party, Lindsay had an idea. She'd asked the parents of Lucy's friends trying to fish for information but had come up with nothing. When she was losing faith, she'd remembered a friend she'd made during Lucy's swimming lessons and had called her out of desperation – luckily she'd been onto a winner and had managed to get a good recommendation of a girl that was paying her way through college dressing up as a princess and doing birthday parties.

As it turns out, it had worked perfectly as Lucy was currently sat with her mouth scraping the floor in awe. She turned to look at Lindsay and swallowed before whispering 'thank you'. Lindsay exhaled and sat herself next to Danny as he wrapped his arm around her. Cinderella, scanned the room as she took off her glass slippers by the door and padded barefoot into the commotion of excitement. She placed herself down next to Lucy and pulled Lucy onto her lap as she engaged the children with her bright, cheerful voice.

Lindsay licked her lips as she laid her head on Danny's shoulder and she could feel him chuckling next to her. She turned to face him and he pressed a kiss to her temple. In a hushed tone, she whispered: "What's so funny?"

"She took her shoes off," he said, gesturing to the glass slippers sat on the tiles by their front door. "Must be a country girl that grew up with hard floors."

"She might just have manners," Lindsay quipped as she laid her head back down on his shoulder. "But I like what you did there," she finished with a whisper.

* * *

Two hours later, Lucy and her friends were still gathered in the living room chatting excitedly about their time with Cinderella. The look of pure joy on Lucy's face had filled both Danny and Lindsay with nothing but pride and satisfaction that they had given her the birthday she had wished for. Cinderella had sang all of the songs from the movie, along with a retell of the story, adding in some exciting adventures after she escaped the evil Stepmother along with a few other things. She'd then whipped out a Polaroid camera and had posed for pictures with Lucy and every child, leaving them with a memento of Lucy's birthday party to go in their Princess, or Prince themed party bag. Lucy's friends had requested Lucy be in their picture with Cinderella, and there had been very few dry eyes among the adults overlooking the party.

But with the fun that had been, Parents were slowly arriving to pick their children up from Lucy's birthday party and Lindsay had sent a wink in Danny's direction as he stood handing out party bags. He delegated the job to Mac, who was known now as fairy god-father, thanks to the reveal of Cinderella from the front door and had quietly disappeared through the garage door for the last surprise of Lucy's birthday – reserved just for Lucy.

Knowing what was coming next, the team quickly said their goodbyes, wishing Lucy a final happy birthday – and quietly requesting photographs from the next stage of Lucy's birthday once Lindsay had loaded them onto their laptop. Giving the team time to get to their cars, ready for their drive back to the city, Lindsay began the mammoth task of tidying up the living room as she killed time, waiting for Danny.

Humming a tune that Cinderella had sung to her and her friends, Lucy began picking up streamers and plates, trying to help Lindsay in the task of tidying up. Lindsay smiled as she held open the trash bag for Lucy and Lucy giggled as she dumped an armful of paper plates into the trash bag.

After five minutes of humming tunes together, the doorbell rang and Lindsay furrowed her brow towards Lucy. "Maybe Adam has forgotten his keys again?" Lindsay suggested, "Shall we go see who is at the door?"

Lucy nodded and dumped a few more streamers into the trash bag before following Lindsay to the door. Lindsay opened the front door and smiled lovingly at the sight of her husband. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Have I missed the princess?"

"All the princesses and guests just left!" Lindsay sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, Prince Charming."

"Not the princesses and princes that came to this party." Danny shook his head, a smirk plastered on his face as Lucy peeped around Lindsay's legs. "I'm looking for a princess in particular… A Princess Lucy."

"I'm Lucy." She narrowed her eyes. "Daddy?… is that you? You're goofy!"

"Actually, I'm Prince Charming," Danny extended his hand and bowed his head before kneeling and taking Lucy's hand. He pressed a kiss to her soft skin. "I'm glad I didn't miss you. I have one last birthday surprise for you, Lucy."

In the excitement of the day, Lucy hadn't realised she'd only received a few birthday presents from Danny and Lindsay. They'd woken her up with a special princess breakfast and given her a few surprises but she hadn't gotten anything other than a few colouring books, crayons, and couple of DVDs.

For months, Lucy had asked for only one thing for her birthday – but it had been quite the ask for Danny especially. Initially, when Lindsay had approached the subject, he'd point blank refused. Absolutely not, he'd said. Under no circumstances, he'd added; and Lindsay had known why. The last time he had interacted with such a thing, his life had fallen apart. But she'd sat down and talked to him about it and went through her usual pep talk that she saved for occasions like this. What happened all those years ago had been an unfortunate accident. It hadn't been his fault; they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and he wasn't to blame. She'd left him to consider it and a few days' later he'd suggested they go to Toys R Us to do a bit of research and perhaps look into getting the one thing Lucy had asked for.

Taking her hand and leading her out onto their path leading to their driveway, Danny smiled as he pressed the garage door operator. He swallowed nervously as he waited for the door to open. Lindsay wrapped herself around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. The family of three, soon to be four gathered around them and watched for the reveal. Danny had moved the car out into the road, leaving Lucy's present in the middle of the empty garage. They watched Lucy as she stared at the door slowly moving up into the roof of the garage. When it was nearly half-way up, she was beginning to see what her last surprise was.

She knelt down on the driveway to give herself a better view of what was in the garage and she gasped as she jumped up as the garage door disappeared completely into the roof of the garage. There, in the middle of the garage was a pink bicycle; complete with name plates that read; Lucy, a basket, tassels and a bell.

"A bike!" she cried, jumping in the air. "I have a bike?"

"Happy birthday, Lucy." Danny smiled as he leant down and scooped Lucy up in her arms.

"Mommy, I have a bike?" She asked tearfully.

"You have a bike," Lindsay smiled. "Happy birthday baby,"

"Daddy, you got me a bike?" she asked holding Danny's face between her two little hands. "Really, really?"

"Really, really." Danny nodded. "And so much for me bein' Prince Charmin'," he scoffed.

"Can I ride it?"

"Well you'll have to get changed into shorts or somethin'," Danny said. "Your dress would get all stuck kiddo."

"Okay!" she cried as she scrambled down from Danny's arms and back into the house through the front door. They could hear her footsteps and she clamoured up the stairs and the slamming of her bedroom door as she quickly got changed.

They stood for a moment of silence; just staring at the bike in front of them. Lindsay was the first to break the silence. "Thank you," she whispered into his temple as she pressed a delicate kiss to the area. "I'm proud of you."

"I didn't do anythin'," he shrugged. "Not anythin' worthy to be proud of anyway."

"You are so wrong," she said softly. "You put aside your own fears and worries for your little girl. I know this is hard for you and I know how much you love her, but I promise you, what happened to Ruben won't happen to Lucy. And besides that, look at how happy she is. You did the right thing, Danny."

He shrugged her words off. "I just… There's a lot of regret with that part of my life." He said. "I don't wanna feel regret when it comes to her. Hell, when it comes to any of you guys. I wanna do what's best for her; and this is what's best. We moved so that she could have things like this. Why stop her from havin' them just because I'm scared I'm gonna lose her."

"You're never going to lose her, Danny." Lindsay whispered. "She'll always be right here," she laid her hand against Danny's chest, just above his heart. "Whether she's in college or she's married with her own children. You'll always have this moment, knowing you did the right thing and you're a damn good dad for doing it."

"And you cleverly manipulated me into doin' the right thing." He smirked. "Don't think I didn't completely see through that little pep talk you gave me," he chuckled. "But it's what I needed, so thanks, Linds."

"I knew you wanted to get her a bike… you just needed a gentle nudging."

"Yeah well, you're the best person for the job." He smirked.

"I'm ready!" Lucy exclaimed, desperately out of breath as she burst through the garage door in a mix matched shirt and shorts combo, paired with her converse and no socks.

"We decided against socks, huh?" Lindsay asked with arched brows.

"They slowed me down." Lucy explained as she climbed onto her bike. She placed one foot on the ground and pursed her lips as the bike shook a little underneath her. "Daddy… there's nothin' to keep it still."

"You mean stabilisers?" He smiled.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"I know," he said, "I took them off."

"But why?" Lucy frowned.

"Because," he paused. "I'm gonna teach you how to ride your bike properly."

"Without anythin'?" She implored.

"Without anythin'." He nodded. "What do you say?"

Quietly, Lindsay had disappeared inside and reappeared with the camera and was snapping shots of Lucy and Danny as they loaded her up with her protective gear and as Danny patiently explained how she was going to peddle while he held onto the back of her bike before letting go. He pressed a soft kiss to the tip of Lucy's nose before he wheeled her out of the garage as she held tightly to her purple handle-bars. Lindsay felt a fluttering within her stomach and she laid a hand against her stomach, while her heart raced as she watched her little girl and husband. Teaching his little girl to ride her bike was something that had scared Danny to the death, but watching him now, despite knowing what she knew, she would have never been able to tell.

Lindsay giggled as she watched Lucy begin to peddle more and more enthusiastically as they made it down the sidewalk, to the point where Danny was jogging along side of her, holding on tightly to the back of her seat all the while dressed head to toe as Prince Charming. Suddenly though, Lindsay watched as he let go. She snapped a picture quickly of Danny stopped, watching Lucy peddle away from him.

Lucy however, not realising the importance of looking where she was going, looked over her shoulder to see where he had gone and promptly crashed onto their neighbour's grass – as he had instructed her to do so. Danny had instantly set off jogging towards her and scooped her up; pressing a kiss to her scraped skin on her shin from where the bike had scraped her as it had fallen down next to her. He rubbed the offended area before scooping the bike up and positioning it so that it faced Lindsay. He helped Lucy back on and they started back towards Lindsay, a big smile on both of their faces.

As Lindsay watched Danny and Lucy head towards her, she marvelled at how much her life had changed in the last six months. Her little girl was growing by the minute, right in front of her eyes. She and Danny had never been better and she wondered if she'd ever loved someone as much as she loved him. She turned momentarily and absorbed the image of their home. While there had been a lot of changes recently, every change had been for the greater good. They'd worked hard over the last nine years, sometimes they worked hard together, and on occasions they had worked against each other. But in the end, it had only made them stronger.

The last nine years had been an amazing experience, but now, as she watched her future begin right in front of her eyes, she realised that she was ready for the next nine years, with her children and her husband. It had been a long road, and she still had a distance to go, but Lindsay could almost see her happy ending; and it was a sight that warmed her heart.

* * *

**It still doesn't seem real and they say that every good, magical thing eventually ends - only if you let it though. I have no intention of letting it end any time soon. I hope you keep checking in with me from time to time. I'll definitely be here. I hope you will be too. I hope you liked this story; it really helped me with some things, especially re-reading it now, so I hope it helped some of you too. We didn't have many gaps filled so these I feel filled them for myself. Purely selfish reasons behind writing this but never mind. hehe. thanks for reading. as always, I'd love to know your thoughts. **

**until next time, BECAUSE THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME GUYS. **

**your friend, Laura **


End file.
